2016 CSA – Week 10: Onion Harvest…Waiting for the Flop

CSA Newsletter – Week 10

Onion Harvest: Waiting for the Flop

In early spring, we seeded about 800 flats of onions and shallots in the greenhouse (that’s over 19,000 onions!). These guys have spent the summer growing in the fields and now the tops are beginning to flop. This is an indication that they are done growing. Once the majority of the onions have flopped, they are pulled, by hand, from the ground and laid on the soil surface for a few days. This allows the roots to dry, decreasing the chance of rot
during storage.

The onions are then loaded onto trucks and transported from the field into greenhouses for curing. Curing allows the onion to dry and for a protective skin to form. We typically let them cure for at least one week, sometimes longer if we are busy harvesting other crops! Once the onions have
dried, the tops and roots are trimmed and they are placed in wooden crates for storage. If the crop is healthy and the storage conditions are right, these onions will last through the beginning of next year. You can never have too many onions in my book!

Ottolenghi’s Eggplant Sauce

This recipe is adapted from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book Plenty. The full recipe includes making a fresh corn polenta which is topped with this sauce. However, the sauce sounded so good it seems that it would be delicious on just about anything! Check out the full recipe at Food 52.

Ingredients

2/3 cup vegetable oil

1 medium eggplant, cut into 3/4-inch dice

2 teaspoons tomato paste

1/4cup dry white wine

1 cup chopped peeled tomatoes (fresh or canned)

6 1/2tablespoons water

1/4teaspoon salt

1/4teaspoon sugar

1 tablespoon chopped oregano

Preparation

Heat up the oil in a large saucepan and fry the eggplant on medium heat for about 15 minutes, or until nicely brown.

Drain off as much oil as you can and discard it — the safest way to do this is to scoop out the eggplant to a plate using a slotted spoon, then pour off the oil into a bowl before added the eggplant back in. You can save the oil to fry lamb chops or eggs in tomorrow.

Add the tomato paste to the pan and stir with the eggplant.

Cook for 2 minutes, then add the wine and cook for 1 minute.

Add the chopped tomatoes, water, salt, sugar and oregano and cook for a further 5 minutes to get a deep-flavored sauce.

Set aside; warm it up when needed.

Jalapeno Corn Fritters

This is not the type of thing that I would make regularly, but a good fritter sure is delicious! For a slightly lighter version, omit the bacon and cheese.